At the End
by Filodea
Summary: Based on "The Questor Tapes" by Gene Rodenberry. When Questor comes to the end of his time, he reflects on the beginning.


This is based on a TV movie that was written by Gene Rodenberry. He wanted to make it a series, but it never happened. All we have is the pilot.

At the end, Questor was alone. He knew he would be. Humans didn't live as long as androids functioned.

Jerry Robinson had died hundreds of years ago. Even though he had had other companions since, none had helped him as much as Jerry had.

Questor looked around the cave. The slabs were there, just as they had been when he had visited before. The slab next to the empty one held Vaslovik, his predecessor, his mentor, his maker.

As he looked around, he mused about the many changes that had happened in the 500 years he had been active. Some of them happened because of him, some of them happened in spite of him, and some just happened no matter what he did.

The eradication of several diseases were his handiwork. Dysentery was the biggest one. It had been a major killer in the poorest parts of the world. With his work in the background, the WHO had been able to provide the necessary equipment to the people that allowed them to have clean water.

Several wars had been prevented, including two nuclear showdowns. Questor supposed he should feel proud about it, but it was tainted by the fact that Jerry had been killed in the process of preventing the first world-wide war since World War II. He wasn't sure the peace that ensued for 200 years was worth Jerry's life.

It left him lost in a world that still didn't always make sense to him. The loss of parts of his programming continued to haunt him, and prevented him from interacting fully with the humans around him.

The people who had come after Jerry were good people. They helped him, and buffered him when necessary, but there was always something lacking. He supposed it was just the fact that Jerry had been with him from the beginning. He was aware of everything that Questor was, where he had come from, and what his shortcomings were, as well as why they were there. He knew about Darrow, a death that still haunted Questor, even if it had been by his own choice.

Still, the others had been helpful, and had been instrumental in many of his later successes in his mission.

Questor sat on his slab, reluctant for some reason to lie down and begin the process of deactivation. He wasn't sure he was ready to _rest,_ to remove himself from the world. There was a nagging feeling of something left undone.

There was the faint sound of a machine powering up, but it was very quiet.

"Questor, aren't you sure that you're ready?" The voice startled him. He recognized it, but it couldn't be real.

He looked around, trying to find the source of the voice. As he turned toward Vaslovik's slab, he saw a silvery shimmer taking the shape of a man. It was Jerry, but not as Questor remembered him, but as he was when the two of them first started out. The semi-transparent shape looked to be a male in his mid-30s, tall, lean, with thinning brown hair and brown eyes that twinkled with humor.

"I did not think androids could hallucinate, but surely I must be doing so." Questor's voice still had the slight flatness of non-emotion, even after the hundreds of years he had been interacting with people.

"Nope, you can't. I'm not a hallucination. I am what is commonly known as a ghost."

"Why did you end up this way as opposed to going on to whatever afterlife you believed in?"

"One of the unknown effects of being around the type of energy your being puts out is that when humans who have been exposed to it long-term die, they are drawn to the main source of the energy, which is here in this cave."

"Will you stay here after I am done?"

"I don't know. I hope not. You are the last. Being stuck here for eternity with nothing but deactivated androids would be very boring."

Questor was beginning to feel the lack of energy that he knew indicated the start of the deactivation process. He tried to fight it. He didn't want Jerry's ghost to be left here alone.

"Don't fight it. You know this is inevitable. Lay down on the slab. I will stay with you until the process is finished."

He had no choice. He became prone on his slab, mimicking the position his predecessors had taken on their slabs. Questor tried to keep his eyes open, to look at Jerry and make sure he was going to be alright. He lost the battle.

"Jerry, my friend, could you talk to me until I pass? Let me be sure you are okay."

"Sure. I'm glad I'm here to see this. I was there at the beginning, and I am here at the end. Bookmark events, I guess you could say."

Jerry continued to talk, reminiscing about some of their travels. The sound of the machinery hidden in the top of the chamber began to increase, both in volume and in pitch. A beam of light encompassed Questor's slab. Jerry felt it drawing him in as well. He felt relief. He wouldn't be left here after all.

When the beam shut off, there was no movement in the cave. No sound, no light, just a row of deactivated androids on slabs. Suddenly, the sound of a large rockfall outside the cave was audible, if someone had been inside to hear it. No one would ever find the cave again. It was sealed forever.

However, there was one last exhange. "Hello, my friend. Would you like to walk with me?"

"Certainly. Someone has to keep you out of trouble."


End file.
